M&C chief quits hotel group to spend less time with his children

Tony Potter, the chief executive of Millennium & Copthorne, is bowing out after seven years with the company to move abroad, the hotels group announced yesterday.

Mr Potter, 56, said he had decided to get a new job with another hotels company and was moving to a hotter country for "lifestyle" reasons, now that his children are grown up and in their twenties.

He was M&C's chief operating officer for five years before being promoted to the top post in 2004. Mr Potter said: "You do reach a stage where you want a change. After seven and a half years, I just fancy doing something different. I either do it now or never." Another reason is his wife's illnesss, the symptoms of which are alleviated by a warmer climate, it is understood.

"Whilst I am sorry to be leaving, I believe that now is the right time for me to take on new opportunities," Mr Potter said. He added that he was still finalising the arrangement and would announce his new job in the next few weeks.

No date has been set for his departure and he will carry on until a replacement has been found. M&C said the parting was amicable. Mr Potter is giving up a £622,000-a-year pay package, which included a bonus of £124,000 last year.

M&C has a portfolio of 91 hotels in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and New Zealand. The group said yesterday the outlook for this year remained in line with expectations set out last December when it predicted that positive trends would continue into the new year.

The hotelier, which is 52 per cent-owned by Kwek Leng Beng, its Singaporean chairman, unveiled a 64 per cent rise in first-quarter profits in April. It is due to report half-year results next week.

Unlike hotel groups such as InterContinental, which have been rushing to sell property assets, M&C intends to carry on managing and owning its hotels.

Mr Potter joins a growing number of executives who have quit their jobs to pursue a different lifestyle. Dairy Crest's chief executive, Drummond Hall, also 56, announced last week that he would take early retirement to enable him to enjoy watching his baby daughter grow up.

Last spring, PartyGaming's chief executive, Richard Segal, left the online poker giant after 18 months in the job. He refused to uproot his young family - he has two children aged eight and 10 - and move from London to Gibraltar, where the company is based.

M&C shares rose 7.5p to end at 414.5p yesterday.

Lifestyle change

Drummond Hall

Dairy Crest's chief executive wants to take early retirement at the end of December. Mr Hall, 56,said last week: "My daughter was born just 14 months ago, and I want to watch her growing up and not miss that."

Richard Segal

PartyGaming's chief executive left the online poker giant last spring after only 18 months in the job because he refused to uproot his young family and move from London to Gibraltar, where the company is based. He said at the time: "I'm married with children aged 10 and eight, and I decided to put my family first."

Brian Blake

Burberry's president and chief operating officer decided to call time at the fashion group at the end of last year for family reasons, after just a year and a half in the post.